A Rooftop Heart-to-Heart
by LucyLuna
Summary: After taking a call on patrol from her recent ex, Harry, the Prowler appeared and they talk bad boys and his first steps into the hero-side of their business. Part sixteen of the My Memories Came Back as Someone Else series. One-shot.


_A Rooftop Heart-to-Heart_

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Gwen's cell phone vibrated in the hidden pocket of her suit for the sixth time in a row as she swung from one apartment building to another looking for crime or danger to intervene in. Fed up with the distraction, she swung herself up onto a particularly low rooftop between two taller buildings. Landing in the shadows, she went and pressed herself against the wall of the stairwell facing away from the street. Reaching into her pocket as her phone started to vibrate anew, she flipped it open and hit talk. Not giving the person on the other end so much as a second to realize she was even _ there_, Gwen snapped, "Stop calling!" She recalled how it was only a week ago she'd skipped on patrol to hang out at Harry's and make out with him. She also recalled lying on his bed and feeling a lump under one of his pillows. When she reached beneath it to pull it out, she'd found an almost empty perscription bottle with someone else's name on it in her hand. Fury renewed at the memory, she hissed over Harry's babbled apologies, "I warned you and then you didn't even care about me enough to be honest when you decided to start doing that shit again."

He started trying to explain, but she didn't want to hear it. It was all just _ excuses_. Gwen didn't need that kind of trouble. Going to shitty bars that didn't card and getting drunk was the only kind of illegal fun she was up for doing as Gwen. She couldn't do or be involved with people doing harder stuff. If her dad found out… Being Spider-Woman would be infinitely harder for the next two years. Raising her voice, she said, "Look, I'm tired of listening to your lame-ass stories. I'm hanging up and blocking you for a while. I've already told the girls not to tell me if you call them, so don't bother trying to get them to guilt me for you."

Harry made a sound suspiciously like a sob and began to whine at her, but she only sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "No!" she said. "I'm hanging—" she stopped when he started to yell over the top of her. Catching on to what he was doing moments later, she shouted even louder than Harry, "Nope, that's not going to work! Bye!" Snapping her cell shut and effectively ending the call, she re-pocketed her phone before sliding down the brick wall she was leaned against and burying her face in her hands. "Stupid fucking boys…" she grumbled into her knees.

"Boy trouble?" a familiar, manufactured gravelly voice asked.

Gwen sprung to her feet. Why hadn't her spidey-senses warned her of incoming trouble? She found out a second later when out of the shadows stepped the Prowler. Heaving a sigh of relief, she lowered her web-shooter. "Shit! Oh, it's just you," she said, understanding now. Maybe Aaron was being a bit of a creep, watching her from the shadows and (probably?) following her around tonight, but it seemed he'd never been a danger to her. It was… a new, but a not unwelcome discovery.

"Just me?" he replied, crossing his arms and cocking his head.

She found herself huffing defensively. "What else am I supposed to say?" she demanded. Pointing a finger at him she said, "I've been watching the news, you know. Lots of things that have been stolen and gone 'missing' in the last couple of years have been finding their way back to their owners at an alarming rate for the last month." Practically swaggering over, she circled the front of the Prowler, looking him up and down. "While it could be some good samaritan, since no names are being given at this point, your skill-set is exactly the type you'd expect from the person who's doing these recoveries. "

The eyes of his mask curved with amusement and he nearly purred, "You_ are _ a smart girl, ain't ya?"

Behind her own mask, she bit her lip. Usually, she'd agree easily enough. Gwen wasn't a genius, but she learned fast and had a good eye for noticing little things. An eye her dad often told her would be good for police work. Right now, though, after that conversation, she just had with Harry… Well, she felt kind of dumb. She'd ignored all sense and went out with him when she should have been firm about only ever being friendly. "About some things," she muttered.

Prowler looked at her. "Aw, that boy's got you real down, don't he?" he finally said in a murmur, tone almost sympathetic. She didn't quite trust it. He probably found her predicament hilarious.

"He shouldn't," she replied her tone hard. "I was only seeing him…" she shook her head and muttered, "it doesn't matter. I knew he was a handful and I still dated him. It's my fault."

"Psh. That don't matter," he said, slouching like he wanted to put his hands in the pockets of a hoodie or pair of baggie jeans, but instead had to settle for putting his hands low on his hips. "It still sucks ass. I would know, I've been there."

"_Really_?" she replied, interest piqued, but also surprised. He'd gone out with a girl he knew was trouble and dumped her? That just didn't sound right to Gwen…

"_I _ was the handful, not her," he admitted, which Gwen nodded at. _That _she believed without a bit of doubt. "But the hurt's not much different I think. I wanted to be better, but… I couldn't and she didn't want my kinda trouble so close to her life," he finished.

"Huh," replied Gwen, mulling it over. She wondered if Harry was the same in how he felt as Aaron. "Think she'd take you back now?" she asked. Aaron was doing a lot of heroics. Admittedly, those heroics hadn't gotten him hailed as a hero since he'd been doing it all on the down-low, but if he continued doing more and more good things and _ did _get blasted everywhere as New York's up and coming hero somewhere along the line, what would this girl have to say?

"Sure, she didn't like the cat burglary or my other crimes, but it was the whole masked thing and enemies in high places part she couldn't stand," he explained, gesturing to his masked-face. "So, no."

Gwen felt bad. That sucked. Awkwardly, she said, "Oh."

The Prowler shrugged. "It's life." His gaze turned considering then and he stroked his chin. "…You're pretty young, ain't ya?"

Affronted, she pulled herself to full height. Who the Hell was he to bring up age _ now_? He'd tried killing her a few times in the past and not once had he ever seemed to worry she might be just a girl beneath this mask and not some adult woman with plenty of experience in life, the world, and combat behind her. "I'm plenty old enough," she snapped.

He put up two defensive hands. "Woah, there, Spider-Woman, not saying you _ aren't,_" he said. "All I'm sayin' is you just don't feel too old neither."

Gwen settled a little. That was better. Not _ a lot _, but she could accept that he might have just been making an observation and not judging her. "Then… Yeah," she said, "I'm not all that old, I guess."

He bobbed his head and told her, "It's no problem with me, I started young too."

"Oh yeah?" replied Gwen, interest captured once again. She knew the Prowler pre-dated her, but she'd never been sure how long. She'd had ideas, but those were just that, ideas.

"Well…" he hedged. "The masked thing came a little later, but, yeah. I was doing the same stuff I had been."

Gwen accepted this. That made sense to her. Of course he'd have been doing the crimes as himself first and then later picked up the mask once he got good to be anonymous and protect himself and his connections better. Satisfied that this line of back-and-forth was finished, she questioned him, "What brought on this change of heart anyway? Did those pep-talks I give you sink in finally?"

"No," he replied, only to sigh. "A little," he admitted. "What really got me was I got some kids lookin' at me like a good guy these days. I wanna actually be what they see."

Gwen grinned behind her mask. She knew _ exactly _who he was talking about and she was extremely amused. Of course, she couldn't say anything. He didn't know she was Gwen and he didn't know she knew he was Aaron. Instead, she played her amusement off as enthusiasm and excitement as she said, "Really now? Isn't that cute! Wow, I know you helped me out there with that police out-reach fair with all those kids, but I'd have never thought you had a soft spot for kids."

"I wouldn't go that far," he said, "I got one for the couple I know, that's about it."

Gwen flapped a hand at Aaron. He could pretend he didn't like kids as much as he liked. She knew the truth. He was a goddamn sucker for them. "Eh, we'll get you there," she told him. Leaning in she gestured for Aaron to bend his head down and she whispered like she was telling him a secret, "'Cause let me tell you something, Prowler. Kids? They _ love _heroes."

He stared at her. Then, the Prowler gave a long, drawn-out sigh. "Fine," he said. "But first, I'mma just start patrolling with you. Take out some wannabe gangstas and shit. We can work on the kid thing _ later._"

Gwen laughed. "Sure, Prowler," she agreed. "Also, can I just tell you how relieved I am to find out you were following me because you wanna join me for patrol and not because you're planning to kill me?"

He snorted at her words, finding them funny.

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**This one's kind of short, but I still like it. Aaron's been doing some heroics and now he's actually going to patrol with Gwen! Now Aaron only needs to figure out Spider-Woman's true identity ;)**

**Thank you for reading everyone!**


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